On Psychology - The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Dr. Bessel VanDerKolk.
Where I get my books and reading tips - When I drive and as you may have noticed from my blog, I drive a LOT and to far places in South Jersey, I listen to NPR. That is unless I have a friend along in which case, we talk! Or I play music. But I LOVE NPR - and I get a lot of ideas about what to read from their interviews with authors.
Dr. VDKolk spoke about his work with Vietman Vets and the trauma they carried with them when they returned from war. That was the beginning of his career in the 1970's before the diagnosis of PTSD was developed. Of course we had "Shell Shock" in the first, and second World Wars, but these diagnosis and the treatment were not as comprehensive as they became when a new generation of psychologists began to treat Vets. Full disclosure: My brother is a Vietnam Vet, so this was of special interest to me.
Anyhow, the doc discovered that the returning soldiers had similar symptoms which were an emotional numbness interspersed with unexpected, uncontrollable bursts of rage. Now, this is a long book, so I have to shorten everything, and let me say now - you should get this book and read it for the full story and a more accurate and detailed account.
The doc discovered that victims of child abuse, and domestic violence shared some similar symptoms and psychologists and psychiatrists all over the country were trying to develop therapies to treat the aftermath of trauma in these folks, which often resulted in drug abuse and alcohol abuse as the victims struggled to control their emotional pain with substance abuse. Also, the cycle would repeat itself with each generation, the victims inflicting abuse upon their children and partners for example.
They developed a three prong approach that involved talk therapy in groups; often vets couldn't talk to outsiders but they could talk to other vets who had shared their experience, combined with medical intervention and behavioral therapy - strategies to identify behaviors and find strategies to short circuit the bad ones and build new ones. If you have ever seen the movie, Silver Linings Playbook, you'll see that in action.
Even if you don't have a trauma survivor in your family, we are surrounded by them in our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods. So many soldiers coming home from the Middle East and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. It is always good to increase your sensitivity to others by understanding, even a little what they are going through.
AS a teacher, I often encountered children from dysfunctional families where one or both parents were in the grip of substance abuse of one kind or another. Often the children were the survivors of domestic abuse or had seen their mothers subjected to domestic violence. We don't have enough understanding in our society and we don't have enough help available in our schools, as evidenced by the last twenty years of gun violence in our public schools.
Anyhow, if you are looking for a good read for the long winter days that so hold us back from outdoor adventures, I recommend this one!
Happy Trails, Jo Ann
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